March 30, 2015

Is AutoCAD LT your go-to product for creating or reviewing 2D designs? Do have a strong point of view and appreciate when your voice is heard? Or do you like to give constructive feedback after thoughtful reflection? If so, you may be just what we are looking for. We are currently incubating a product and seeking AutoCAD LT users to join a feedback community and partner with us to ensure our ideas are relevant to you. By joining the community you’ll have opportunities to preview and give feedback on features under development. You’ll also be able to join in the conversation with Autodesk employees to share your opinion on topics we are debating via forums and surveys.

If you have interest in actively providing feedback and partnering with Autodesk, please apply to join the Autodesk Feedback Community here. If you do not already have an Autodesk Feedback Community login, select Create Account, otherwise Sign In. Please allow 1-2 days for us to review your application. If you have any questions please reach out to us at autocad.lt.council@autodesk.com.

March 27, 2015

The ribbon in AutoCAD 2015 offers flexibility for displaying ribbon galleries. When the new GALLERYVIEW system variable is set to 1, thumbnail preview images of blocks as well as dimensions, mleaders, and tables display in the Ribbon.

When it’s set to 0, the Insert dialog box is displayed to access Blocks and traditional style lists are displayed in the Ribbon to access dimension, mleader, and table styles.

March 25, 2015

The Status bar in AutoCAD 2016 can now automatically wrap onto two rows when there are more icons than can fit into a single row. At any given time, the model tab and at least one layout tab are always displayed.

Isolate Objects and Lock UI have been added to the Status bar customization menu.

The Lock User Interface tool on the Status bar enables you to check and uncheck multiple UI elements at one time instead of having to reopen the flyout each time. Click the icon to enable or disable UI locking.

March 23, 2015

Layouts offer some small but intuitive enhancements in AutoCAD 2016. You can now drag and drop layouts to move or copy them to positions that are hidden in the overflow menu. As you drag the selected layouts to the right or left edge of the layout tabs they automatically scroll, enabling you to drop the layouts into the proper position.

New controls in the right-click menu enable you to dock the layout tabs in line with the status bar or above it.

March 20, 2015

One of the first changes you might notice when you launch AutoCAD 2016 is the Start tab. It was previously called New Tab. The NEWTABMODE system variable has been renamed to STARTMODE. When set to 0 the Start tab is not displayed. When displayed, the Start tab remains persistent as you create and open additional drawings.

A new deployment option enables you to control whether the Start tab is displayed for install deployments.

You can press Ctrl+Home or use the new GOTOSTART command to switch focus from the current drawing to the Start tab. The new CLOSEALLOTHER command offers command line access to close all the open drawings except the one in focus.

The Learning Tips on the Learn page is updated every 24 hours. You can use the arrows to cycle through multiple tips one at a time and the tips can now contain inline images.

March 19, 2015

In this newest release of AutoCAD you can look forward to many enhancements to help you design and document more efficiently. Revision clouds, dimensioning, and point clouds include some of my favorite improvements and the new System Variable Monitor is one of my favorite new features. I'll take you through these and all the changes to AutoCAD 2016 in future posts. But if you just can't wait, check out these videos and download the AutoCAD 2016 Preview Guide. It's also available in Simplified Chinese, German, and Japanese.